Integrated systems for blood glucose measurement have been available commercially for some time. These integrated systems typically comprise a measurement device, a battery which can be inserted in it, and a test strip magazine. The test strip magazine may be in the form of a disc (e.g., Bayer® Dex) or may be configured in the form of a drum (e.g., ACCU-CHEK® Compact). Other forms for test strip magazines are also known in the art. Test strip magazines generally contain some kind of simple, built-in coding means, for example in the form of a barcode for transferring batch-specific information to the measurement device on which the test strip magazine is used. For cost reasons, the information content contained in the more simple coding means is limited. For most integrated analysis systems, more complex electronic coding means, such as ROM keys, which contain a much larger amount of information and thus are intrinsically correspondingly more flexible, are not used.
Coding means such as ROM keys which have a high information content are intended to be used in more recent developments. This therefore results in the problem on the one hand of reducing the costs but on the other hand of solving the problem of the remaining electronics scrap in conjunction with the domestic refuse problem.
Reliable coupling of any type of coding means to the measurement device represents one critical interface for an analysis system. Electrical contacts for a ROM key or a smart card require compliance with tight mechanical tolerances and the use of contacts which can be reused many times. Although RFID chips can be read without contact, they lead, in the final analysis, to higher costs, however, and to considerably greater energy consumption.
Examples of integrated systems are known in the prior art, including PCT Publication Nos. WO 2005/006985, WO 2004/047642, WO 2004/056269, and WO 2006/002432, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. As can be understood from these publications, test element magazines can include a tape or ribbon of test elements, and other integrated systems additionally include a piercing member for obtaining a body fluid such as blood by piercing a body part. Also, prior art systems describe different means for sealing a test element magazine to protect test elements from exposure to the environment and other fouling factors. In many prior art systems, the integration focuses primarily on the magazine holding the test elements.
The development trends for analysis devices which can be handled by the user are heading towards future containers for test elements being in the form of ribbon or tape cassettes. The test media are held in the cassettes as a ribbon or tape which, for example, is provided in places with a single-layer or multiple-layer coating for analyte determination. Furthermore, these cassettes contain mechanical elements for transport of the test elements, which can be viewed as test strips provided in ribbon form, as well as keys, in particular for the outlet opening of the unused ribbon material from a supply chamber within the magazine. In most instances, the tape cassette configuration solutions require the magazine to be inserted into the analysis device thus leading to the analysis device itself being physically relatively large. For other magazine configuration solutions known in the art, such as magazines or dispensers carrying test element strips in a stacked orientation, such insertion is not required, but rather the magazine may be mounted or otherwise placed into contact with the measurement device to feed test strips, and a system of mechanisms, housings and moveable seals are configured for positioning test strips for analysis while maintaining an essentially moisture-tight and essentially air-tight magazine package.
In virtually all the devices which are known from the prior art, the critical interface between the disposable (which should be understood as meaning test strips and the test strip magazine) and the measurement device is produced or otherwise caused by the customer. Moreover, the physical complexity and the costs for the interface are considerable without being able to ensure effective functional reliability in all cases.